Fans fill seats, Ottawa fills Tampa Bay's net

Posted: Wednesday, January 15, 2003

By The Associated Press

OTTAWA -- Patrick Lalime earned his third straight shutout, and Radek Bonk and Martin Havlat each scored twice to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 7-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

A soldout Corel Centre crowd of 18,500 rose to team owner Rod Bryden's challenge to fill the seats.

Earlier in the day, Bryden filed an offer -- backed by an unidentified New York-based corporation -- to buy the bankrupt hockey team and its arena.

Maple Leafs 3, Flames 2

TORONTO -- Mats Sundin scored the go-ahead goal with 7:59 left in the third period as Toronto extended its home unbeaten streak to 13 with a victory over Calgary.

Nik Antropov had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, 12-0-1 at home since losing to Detroit on Nov. 16. Ed Belfour made 31 saves, including several impressive stops in the second and third.

Sabres 1, Wild 0

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Denis Hamel got his first point of the season with a third-period goal and rookie Ryan Miller made 22 saves in his first shutout for Buffalo.

The Sabres, improving to 5-1 in 2003, have done an admirable job ignoring their organization's financial troubles. The franchise, which has been under the league's control since June, filed for bankruptcy Monday.

Blues 4, Coyotes 1

PHOENIX -- Martin Rucinsky scored a short-handed goal early in third period as St. Louis snapped Phoenix's five-game unbeaten streak at home.

Ladislav Nagy of Phoenix lost the puck to Steve Dubinsky in the neutral zone, and Dubinsky passed ahead to Rucinsky, who lifted a wrist shot over rookie Zac Bierk's left shoulder at 4:48 of the final period.

That led to empty-net goals by Al MacInnis and Alexander Khavanov in the final 53 seconds.

Canucks 4, Predators 3

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Trevor Letowski banged in a loose puck with 5:15 left as Vancouver rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Nashville.

Todd Bertuzzi tied it 28 seconds into the third period and Daniel Sedin and Sami Salo also scored for the Canucks, who avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Dan Cloutier made 24 stops as Marc Crawford won his 142nd game with Vancouver, tying him with Harry Neale as the franchise leader in coaching wins.

Vladimir Orszagh ended a 17-game scoring drought with a pair of goals, and Andreas Johansson also scored for the Predators, who have lost consecutive games after their only three-game winning streak of the season.